Kyp looks at the rug, wondering if he should move it to see if there are any traps under it... can't be to safe these days...

Edited to answer that for you. Count put his cloak back on. After all, with all the specifications about it and his intense interest in fashion, I didn't think he'd leave it behind. It is part of his image. ;)

Bellandra planned what to do. If the mannequins proved to be helpful, perhaps they would help the Crew escape. Otherwise, Bellandra planned to use her mirror to inspect the room and its contents for anything they might have missed.

As the grinding sounds of distant mechanisms rumble through the dungeon floor, Argy could swear she hears among them the faint echo of a shadowy voice Dilly-dallying...

There *should* be another exit in this room... Argy focus on searching for any hidden door or trapdoor in the room. If neither she nor her crewmates find anything, maybe they should try again the beholder room, in case they missed another door on their way. Although going back doesn't seem to be a very good idea...

If it is clear to her that the crew must go back, before entering the beholder room again, she will throw a cupcake into it. It can injure some hidden enemy. Besides, the blast of the explosion should trigger or disable any traps in a decent radius.

Mission 7 - The Tunnels, Turn 8
*Turn Ends 8PM UTC, 04 April 2025.*

In order: Argy, Count, Grog'tial, Kyp, Bellandra, BenKii, Argy, Crew ... guests and various Crew.

Argy: (roll dice*7) As the grinding sounds of distant mechanisms seem to rumble beneath your feet and through you, you swear you hear the echo of that shadowy voice ... Dilly-dallying ... It's getting on your nerves. There should be another exit in this room. You circle the room, trying to focus your efforts on finding a hidden door or trap door. Going back into the other room really doesn't seem like a very good idea to you. Finding nothing obvious, you wonder what the leprechaun meant about a way behind the bad tempered stone giant. Looking again at the mannequins you shake your head. Those are wood, not stone. You turn and walk away but can't help glancing back over your shoulder. Did one just move? You feel on edge and jumpy. The mannequins are creepy and you almost expect for them to move when you're not looking. You see Grog'tial carefully lifting the edge of a rug to peer under it, before turning to come towards you, his dirk starting to glow in his hand. Your fingers caress your pockets, tracing some of the items there. You are contemplating throwing a cupcake into other room if you have to return there, to injure any hidden enemies and disable any traps in a decent radius first, when you catch a strange motion out of the corner of your eye. You immediately focus on the mannequins. Nothing seems to have changed. Turning your head away you catch it again. A grin is slowly appearing in the air above the shelf ledge at the top of a full length ornate mirror placed in a space between two mannequins as if to see yourself in the looking glass while trying on the armors. You wonder if your nerves have finally gotten to you.

Count Karnstein: (roll dice*9) "Thanks, boyo, fer that li'l assistance out there. Guess next round's on me..." you say to Kyp once you're back with the others. You lean against the wall and double check the bandage. The heal wounds bandage is holding well with no leakage and you determine the slash must not have been so deep as to require another bandage. A healing potion should take care of the internal injuries as well as helping more of the wound, you think. You drink the healing potion and begin to feel better, although your thigh still throbs a bit when you walk and you still have a headache.

Count, you enter the treasure room and pace around while waiting for the potion to finish taking effect. Nearing the mannequins you look them over carefully, along with the other items you can see, looking for any patterns or emblems that might give a clue as to their origins or any lore. Success! You notice symbology on the Paladin and Cleric's weapons and armor. From the look of them, and your innate discomfort, you believe them to be some sort of holy symbols but ones you are not familiar with. You return to gaze again at the silk of the Mage attire, which looks soft and exotic with a slight glittering to it. It's expensive and finely made you would guess, but you refrain from touching it. Stopping to look in the large ornate looking glass placed against the wall between the mage and rogue mannequins, you notice the rip in your cloak doesn't look quite so bad. Surely it won't take too much to be repaired, hopefully in a way that won't be noticed. Turning and making your way around Argy, who seems to be staring at the mirror herself, you next peruse the rugs and gauge them to also be of superior quality. So too are the embossed golden tea set and plates and various medium to larger gold, silver, platinum and gemmed items ... although you would assume that there would be more higher quality jewelry pieces lying about, unless those are in the other chests ... or have already been taken. You are pleased to note the ache in your thigh is lessening, although your head has a residual ache.

Grog'tial: (roll dice*10) As you join the others you reload your crossbow with a single regular bolt, leaving the second slot open for now. Loading a single bolt is quicker than having to unload and replace one and every moment may count. Your eyes light up as you enter the circular treasure room. You start toward Argy to ask about what all the little green man told her, without revealing all you overheard of course. After all, old habits die hard. But your questions are delayed as she is walking away from you around the room, her brow furrowed as she focuses intently on the walls. Instead you draw your dirk and turn towards the bookcase, remembering the Hag's demands. Knowledge is the most valuable commodity, you think to yourself. Unfortunately as you come around to the front and get a good look, you find the bookcase is empty. There are faint marks indicating there had been some books there, but no longer. You would suspect the little green man of taking them, but the scuffing as if some books were drug off a shelf in a great hurry seems to be older than recent. Disappointed, you carefully examine and lift the edges of the rugs, but find nothing underneath. The large heavy chests that cover a large portion of the middle of the room anchor down several of those rugs. Turning, you intend to scan the mannequin outfits, particularly the mage clothing which looks especially exquisite and which you suspect Cliodhna might appreciate as a source of materials ... but as you approach you notice Argy seems jittery. Her charm is glowing and your dirk also glows steadily in warning as you come closer to her. Then you notice her fingers caressing her bulging pockets.

Kyp: (roll dice*2) You are still shaken from being lifted high into the air by the shadow. Your body is bruised and your head aches. You enter the treasure room and look at the rugs, wondering if you should move them to see if there are any traps underneath. You nod when you see Grog'tial has the same idea. Can't be too safe these days, you think.

Bellandra: (roll dice*4) You note with interest that your rabbit's foot has glowed near danger and thank whatever rabbit spirit lives within it. Seeing the well-dressed mannequins in the treasure room you wonder if they truly be mere holders of of equipment, or guardians? "Be wary still," you warn your crewmates. "These treasures may be guarded by more than traps." Using your Shipkin senses, you try to detect if these are indeed beings of wood similar to yourself. You think you may pick up on something faint but muffled, and you are unsure. Still, you decide to try to communicate with them to assure them the Crew means no harm. You address them calmly. "Be ye warriors, guardians of this room? I be Bellandra, a being of wood meself, and I and me friends seek a way out of this place. We be not here to rob ye, but we would have yer aid if ye can."

"If that be so, then why does the halfling's pockets overflow with treasure?" a voice purrs back.

Bellandra as you turn away from the mannequins for a moment to look at Argy, you realize that all her pockets are bulging with the outlines of coins and other items clearly visible. Oops.

Captain BenKii: (roll dice*7) [Fire oil lasts thru Turn 10] You are feeling less bruised and notice the ruby in your rapier is softly glowing. However your head still feels a bit dazed. Still you are rather excited that your idea for the pieces of 8 worked and as you enter the treasure room with the Crew you ask if any of them have some more pieces of 8 to spare, remarking on how it worked so well against the shadowy creatures. "I can fit up to 4 pieces of 8 into my musket at a time so whatever anyone can spare would be appreciated in case we have to fight those things again," you tell them.

BenKii, using the added light from your fiery rapier and being careful of traps you search the already open chests for more pieces of 8. Unfortunately they appear to hold only full silver coins, gilded plates, crowns, tiaras and bejeweled items. A large beautiful glowing diamond pendant surrounded with aquamarine stones catches your eye and you think of Aeshma and her pale blue eyes. You can't get the picture of her wearing this gift out of your mind. It's perfect! You are about to reach for it when your eyes spot another item. It looks like a medieval lord's jeweled golden chain collar, with three large pale purple crystals hanging from it. Before you can get a closer look at it, a strange purring voice speaks and you raise your gaze to lock onto a large grinning cat.

Argy: (roll dice*2) Busted! You look back at the large tabby cat that grins back at you with amusement from the top of the mirror. The cat just faded in slowly as you watched, starting with his grin, then his head, his front and down his back and hindquarters until finally his tail showed ... dangling off the edge as the tip of it moves sedately back and forth. Glancing quickly around, you are relieved to notice that others of the Crew must be seeing it too. At least you're not crazy or just seeing things.

All Crew: (Roll dice) You all see the rather large tiger striped tabby cat with a big grin lying relaxed on the shelf-like top of the ornate mirror.

"Greetings," says the grinning cat, rolling the r with a slight purr as he steadily regards you all. "Are you lost? You look lost. Somehow you strayed and lost your way, and now there’ll be no time to play, no time for joy, no time for friends – not even time to make amends.” He twitches his whiskers at you. "Then again, only a few find the way, some don’t recognize it when they do – some… don’t ever want to.”*

Suddenly a large white rabbit dashes into the room and takes out a pocket watch. Staring at the watch he trembles. "Oh, I'm late! I'm late!* We're too late!"

“Actually, I am right on time,”* says the cat, nonchalantly.

"How can you be right on time, the March Hare is already gone!" the rabbit exclaims as the ticking of his pocket watch grows louder. A similar ticking is heard throughout the dungeon.

"Because it's April, fool," the cat quite simply replies, his grin growing wider until it is even bigger than Cap'n Rummyfangs full bared fangs smile, even though this cat is only a quarter of Rummyfangs' size.

With a last loud tick the pocket watch dings. There is the funny sinking sensation like that your stomachs get when the ship crests over a huge wave in a particularly wild storm tossed sea and the room suddenly drops (like a plummeting turbolift, Captain BenKii thinks), and spins (or maybe one of those carnival rides in his old hometown fair).

"Oh dear! Oh dear!"* the white rabbit exclaims. "This time it's off with our heads for sure!"

A moment later In walks a 1.8m (6ft) playing card, the Queen of Hearts. The painted face on the bottom half is the likeness of Queen Origi at her most haughty, appearing as she had when Captain BenKii and Gilius had first seen her in this dungeon years ago. The top half's painted face is that of an extremely stern faced older woman whose gaze might just be the cause of the petrification of the beholder, Count muses.

"Fools!" The Origi half points at Captain BenKii and Gilius. You let me die in this dungeon. Worse, you all skipped Valentine's Day! I was to reign over my adoring subjects with my prince!"

"Just what do you two think you know about romance?" the top half Queen says contemptuously to Captain BenKii and Count Karnstein.

(Roll dice) That voice! Captain BenKii, you could swear you have heard it before. Could it be ... you shiver to even think of it ... the Mother of All Mothers in Law?** Here? Wasn't that just a holodeck program?

"Whatever happened to treating your girl like a queen?" the stern Queen Mother of All Mothers in Law continues, looking back and forth between Count and BenKii. "Where were the chocolates? Did you even think to bring flowers? What self-respecting so-called nobleman calls his angel a vixen? What kind of gentleman makes his special date teach him dancing? What ARE your intentions anyway? How much do you make? How do you intend to provide for her? Don't tell me this dungeon disaster is your only gig! Get a job, scum! And just look at that torn cloak," she disdainfully eyes Count Karnstein. "One would think a grown adult could at least dress himself and take care of his clothing these days. Pathetic!"

Captain BenKii (Roll dice*2) You wilt under the criticism. You are dazed, but in your heart you know Aeshma deserves better from you. Doubt assails you, your confidence fails you.

Count Karnstein (Roll dice) Your head is pounding and with it your anger rises. Blast it all, but the arrogant queen is right. You know you shouldn't be letting her words influence you, but it is up to you to defend Aeshma from these other low-lifes! You should be soundly whipping your rivals. Your gaze narrows on BenKii as your headache grows. (Roll dice/Book of Plots) Wait. Who IS this woman to berate you? Beneath the throbbing, your head feels odd and is reeling. Why are you letting a playing card influence you? How is Queen Origi even half of a playing card?

The stern Queen turns to eye Kyp. "You can't even manage to get a Wanted Poster," she crows. "Playing with your turtles and fish. Eating disgusting fish heads. You can't even take a date to a proper viewpoint to see the scenery without swooning when you look down! What girl will ever want you?" she laughs.

Kyp (Roll dice*2) It is your worst doubts and fears thrown in your face in front of the Crew. You feel completely rejected.

"And you," the forbidding older Queen stares down her nose at Grog'tial next. "Look at the state of you, you're hardly what I would call husband material. What kind of a gift is a salt shaker anyway? You won't dance, you won't wine and dine her, but you'll eat all her cooking! You won't even take her for a stroll under the moonlight on the deck with that bard of yours playing sweetly in the background. How's a girl supposed to know what you feel if you won't speak up? Loser!"

Grog'tial (Roll dice*3) You recoil from the Queen card. It's like all of your grandmother's concerns with none of the underlying caring or support. Deep doubt and paranoia begin to overcome you when you feel a touch of warmth within you. Your grandmother cares, and there is another who has cared also, one who once told you that they want to provoke your fear. It gives them power over you. Your hand burns. Looking down you are surprised to see the pearl of your dirk is blazing hot. It is only after the Queen has thoroughly torn into her next target that you begin to get control of your paranoid thoughts enough to discount her tirade.

"Don't you look at me like that, you little trollop!" The Queen Mother of All Mothers in Law sneers at Argy when the halfling looks like she might say something, perhaps in Grog'tial's defense. "You should have settled down by now instead of throwing yourself at sailors and other delinquents! Don't give it away for free, make your man work for it! Hussy, I smell that cheap alcoholic swill you make on your breath!"

Argy (Roll dice*2) You are stunned at the attack and step backwards, eyes wide. You want to fight back, but there is some truth to what she says. You want to reach for your pan, but you lack your usual gumption.

Bellandra (Roll dice*2) Stunned by the verbal animosity and attacks, and reeling as your empathy overwhelms you for the others of the Crew, you find yourself slow to react. The damage is done.

Having demoralized most of the Crew, the two queenly card halves congratulate each other with a self satisfied air, then shout in unison, "Off with their heads!!!"* They strut out of the room, slamming the door shut behind them.

(Roll dice) The rabbit dashes away through the mirror as most of the mannequins turn into large armored playing cards and come to life, bent on taking off the Crew's heads.

-----

Dungeon, Treasure Room: Argy [demoralized], Bellandra, BenKii [bruised/dazed/lacks confidence], Count [weakened/head throbbing/angered] Gilius, Grog'tial [recovering from paranoid doubt], Kyp [bruised/headache/weakened/demoralized]
Dungeon, Hag Room - in Cauldron: Baldbeard
???: Aylar, Devin, Cliodhna, Aeshma, Refyx, Rummyfangs

-----
*Quotes from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit and the Queen of Hearts.

**The Mother of All Mothers in Law was a truly terrifying character created by Sulibor (Cursed Crew's Mighty the Mighty Matey) for Doc's first Fight Club GA. She dominated her fights right up until Stage 7 of Round 3's Royal Rumble.
You can read all the battles on the Fight Club page. (Many thanks to krugos2 for this rundown page!)

For those who have played Skyrim, DiffuseReflection (Bellandra) cleverly noticed that the mannequins here brought to mind the creepy ones in Skyrim that would move around on their own and even seem to be following your character in the house, but only when you were asleep or not looking. [Yes, I hated them and they were creepy as heck!] As DiffuseReflection also noted, those were like Skyrim's equivalent to the Weeping Angels in what is probably the scariest Doctor Who episode "Blink."

GM Note: While I mapped the dungeon from Doc's posts, I considered that it could be a temptation to metagame this dungeon from looking up that information. I also figured that anyone who thought the mysterious and shadowy figure wouldn't 'readjust' a few things after allowing several adventurers to 'escape' years ago (in local game time), vastly underestimates said shadowy figure's intelligence and power. This is a being Captain BenKii and Gilius know has seized and teleported many beings to this dungeon before (as well as otherworldly Fighting Arenas) and which Captain BenKii has previously suspected of possibly being related to the Q. [Ha! They wish.] There will be some familiar places, but have fun puzzling out how things fit together after the diabolical dice and magical roulette spin session. Happy April Fools! Mwa-ha-ha! :P

"Couldn't even get a wanted poster... surely I am a good pirate... good at my job I mean... I mean I have some gold to my name right? At least a bad pirate would have zero gold... or perhaps would be dead... This hurts my head to much, perhaps life would be easier right now if I just stuck with the dragon turtle instead of joining another voyage..."

Heeding the warning from his dirk, Grog'tial will rush to Argy and makes her empty her pockets. If he needs to get her attention / co-operation, he'll lean into the taunts from the Queen, and will ask her out for a moonlit walk on the deck.

If the playing cards continue to be hostile after the treasure is out of Argy's pockets, Grog'tial will load and shoot armor piercing bolts as swiftly as he can.

He also shouts at Kyp, "Hey, is that music box still on?! It doesn't seem to have much effect at present. Could you try turning it off and on again?"

Argy steps back and leans against the wall, deeply hurt "Why do all nobles, queens and cap'n's 'ave to be so mean? Blimey, thar be not fair!" *sighs*

When she notices Grog'tial approaching, she brandishes her pan menacingly (or tries to, somehow she is lacking the will to scold or tease him...) "Do not touch me pockets, ye scurvy dog! Tryin' to take advantage o' an innocent lass again?
ye think now it be the best moment fer that there?"

If Grog'tial manages to encourage her a little bit, she'll take the recent pieces of treasure out of her pockets and kick them away. If there are any hostile cards around, she'll apply the fire oil to her pan and fight them.
She'll also wink to the half dwarf "A moonlit walk on the deck? Not a long trek for a stroll, but count me in!"

If she remains demoralized, while tempering with her pockets, she'll notice the bottle of Pirate Pete's Pain-Killing Rum. "Shiver me timbers, just what I need now!" Turning to Grog'tial with a faint smile "Flay yer shriveled tongue an' drink with me, 'oney!" She'll offer a sip to Grog'tial and gulp the rest down. She'll get ready to fight the cards afterwards (if liquid courage has been effective, she'll also apply the fire oil to her pan)

Blast it all, but the arrogant queen is right. What worse, he was not only unable to take care of his own clothing but his betrothed's as well; provide her with a quality attire. He was a pathetic parody of a nobleman, his self-given title mocking him at every turn. Which count's woman ever had to work? Aeshma was ridiculing him in the eyes of his peers with her petty bourgeoisie mindset, and it had to be fixed if they were to be together. No more medicine peddling and witch-doctoring for poor schmucks. She could own a clinic instead if she'd wanted, though. The Karnstein Clinic, sounds not half-bad. Speaking of work, conveniently she wasn't there when HE was getting the job done, while that nincompoop was talking to giant rats, for crying out loud...

If even this cardboard wench could see it, what everybody else was thinking? Was it really true, though? Had Aeshma really needed and wanted somebody to provide for her? She seemed fairly capable on her own last time he checked. And they weren't actually betrothed, were they? At least not formally. What sort of card trick was that? Why are you letting a playing card influence you? How is Queen Origi even half of a playing card? For what he knew, Origi was very much dead. At least he thought so: he could be wrong, as he was pretty busy almost dying himself when it happened. Still, the now quite literal half-woman, was never an authority on any subject Count would care of. Quite opposite indeed. And the old one looked like she would drain the love out of glove by merely attempting to pronounce it, so what did she know?

This deck was clearly marked with deception in mind.

Then, as if to confirm, the order had been issued and all hell broke loose. Infuriated by the combined insolence of trying cheap mind games on him and his throbbing headache and injured leg, Count is going to take it all out on the card soldiers, intending no less than to thoroughly reshuffle them. Hopefully it will let him temporarily ignore the pain in his thigh, as he strikes at the nearest opponent with ardor.

Captain's Log: Mission 7 - The Tunnels, Turn 8
Dazed but not entirely confused, I made my way into the treasure room and started searching for more pieces of 8 for my musket. I did not manage to find any, however, I did find a large beautiful glowing diamond pendant surrounded with aquamarine stones that I thought would be a perfect gift for Aeshma. But then another thing appeared, three large pale purple crystals that looked exactly like dilithium. What were the odds that 2 things that I deeply wanted would appear before me in this treasure box? "Astronomical" my science officer would say which is how I know this to be a trap and must warn my other crew members. But before I could, strange things started happening in the room....

"What in the holy wonderland!" exclaimed Captain BenKii at the sight of the grinning cat, the large white rabbit, and the Queen of Hearts. None of this made sense to the Captain. These were clearly characters ripped right out of the storybook Alice in Wonderland. 'But that was an Earth book!' thought BenKii, 'How did they end up here?' The thought was broken when BenKii noticed the Queen of Hearts was not a standard card out of the deck. The face of Queen Origi, the Captain's former companion years ago, plastered on the bottom half of the card and the top half had the face of the most evil creature to have ever walked the land, The Mother of All Mother-In-Laws. 'No!' thought BenKii, 'It can't be! I thought the MOAMIL was just a horror story created by some demented person on a holodeck?' But sure enough, it was the MOAMIL in all her ugly form standing before the crew on a Queen of Hearts card. Yes, this story is getting weird. One by one the MOAMIL berated the crew, their mental defenses waning, unable to withstand the power of the MOAMIL's chastising. BenKii himself had self doubt creep in over whether he was good enough for Aeshma. It was a great mental blow to the Captain but he can recover. 'I am a starship Captain' BenKii thought to himself, 'I have overcome many challenges and faced countless threats. The words of an ugly mother in law will not put me in an abysmal state. I must tell myself her words mean nothing. If I am not good enough for Aeshma then so be it. What would make me happier more than anything is knowing she gets the best in life with whoever she wants to be with. Whether that be me or someone else it does not matter. Knowing she is the one making her own choice freely is what gives me peace.'

The cat, the rabbit, and the queen card all left, but the Queen had one more surprise. "Off with their heads!!!" said the Queen card as she left the room slamming the door. Just then the 5 mannequins turned into 5 large armored playing cards. No time to be sullying about now. "Everyone get out of your stupor!" exclaimed the Captain, "We got hostiles that need attending to! I think this room may be channeling our thoughts and creating whatever we think of." The Captain had read about something like this before from Captain Kirk's voyage to Omicron Delta where the crew's thoughts would come to life. Turned out the residents of that planet only created things people wanted for pure pleasure. An amusement park for visitors if you will. But BenKii believed this room had more nefarious purposes. "Try imagining those playing cards as something else. Something harmless. Maybe a litter of cute puppies. Think hard crew! THINK!"

After Captain BenKii gives himself a mental pep talk to exit his state of demoralization, he will channel his thoughts into turning the 5 armored playing cards into cute puppies. If other members of the crew are still left demoralized, he will try to cheer them up with words of encouragement (see below for specific responses). In the event thinking does not work, he will target the closest enemy and attack with rapier and musket.

To Kyp: "Don't listen to her Kyp. You're a great pirate! No one can swim as fast as ye can! You're one of the most valuable members of the crew!"

To Argy: "Who cares how you choose to live your life. Argy, it's yours to live how you want. Live it without regrets."

To Count: "Count..... umm... Nice cape."

After hearing BenKii's speech Kyp realized he was right! There are hostiles that need attending to, and the needs KYP to step in. He is enough to be a good pirate, or at least a crew mate, even the marines or port authorities and police did not have a wanted poster Kyp was wanted by his crew (even if they did not go through the effort of putting that on a poster).

After realizing Kyp has the approval of his crew and how Kyp has always been a needed support to the missions (since Kyp has usually never been directly in the front of the battlefield and center of attention (which has caused him to slip the attention of the wanted poster makers.)

If there is a corner that provides a large field of view of the room Kyp will maneuver to that corner so that the mannequins to not be able to sneak up on him and he can warn the crew of attacks. Kyp would also encourage other crewmates to do the same.

Kyp will take his rapier out and attack and nearby enemies and will defend himself/crew

(edited post with some words of encouragement for those afflicted by the MOAMIL. Just in case being demoralized may have adverse affects on the next turn. Just a suggestion but perhaps others could boost other crew member confidence up with their own words too.)

When Origi begins to yell after Gilius, blaming him for letting her die, he immediately reacts : "Aye ye landlubber ! But I tried t'save ye ! I even wasted a resurrect spell on ye ! There be nothin' I could 'ave done !"

Upon seeing the rabbit go through the mirror and the mannequins begin to morph into living cards, Gilius immediately moves to check the mirror. "Is it some kind of magical portal ?" He touches it and tries to see if it's possible to go through to the other side.

If it doesn't work and he's not able to escape through it, Gilius tries to locate the cat and see what he's doing ? Did he vanish or did he go through some escape route ? If it's the latter, he will point to it so that all the crew knows where to go. Otherwise, he will summon Rocky to help fend off the mannequins. He will fight with his cudgel and if it doesn't seem to do much damage, he will ignite his weapon with a fire oil to be more efficient.

Mission 7, Turn 8 is now ENDED. Action post below.